


you don't have to say i love you to say i love you

by sarahunty



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Boys In Love, Idiots in Love, Pining Luke Skywalker, Pre-Relationship, Protective Din Djarin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:49:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29973477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahunty/pseuds/sarahunty
Summary: “Well your Highness, tell your people or whomever it concerns that Luke here is accounted for,” the Mandalorian took a step towards Luke and grabbed Luke’s hand with his own, “My uh—boyfriend will be joining my clan very soon, I guess your people would call this the engagement phase. Luke is very much accounted for,” he squeezed the hand holding Luke’s.Luke looked at Din, cursing how very not force sensitive the man was, having to resort to whispering instead, “Din, what are you doing?”---Luke Skywalker might have to get married in some form of political arrangement and Din Djarin saves him. Lots of pining and a dance scene!!
Relationships: Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker
Comments: 38
Kudos: 260





	you don't have to say i love you to say i love you

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i still don't know much about star wars but here we are. hope you enjoy!! :)

Logistically speaking, Luke Skywalker knew that there was a chance that he would be used as some token of sorts in the hands of the New Republic. More specifically, Luke had a feeling that the senators would have him marry someone in an arranged, political bonding kind of way, trying to unite the people of the galaxy. While he was no prince like Leia, everyone seemed to go with the idea that he was the so-called lost Prince of Alderaan. If they didn’t care for the Prince idea, Luke was still the Jedi Knight that blew up the death star and saved numerous lives by fighting in the rebellion. He understood that he was kind of a big deal (not to be egotistical, but it was a tiny bit of an ego boost). What was not fun, was the realization that he was technically a pawn in the hands of the politicians of the New Republic.

He knew not everyone was crooked, after all, his sister was a Senator and was as good and fair as they came. Luke knew that Leia looked out for the people of the New Republic, this extending to her brother. But because of her ranking and their family's status, this meant being in attendance for certain events, like dinner banquets held for new formed alliances and alliances that were hopefully in the works.

Luke was currently in attendance at a banquet talking to his dear friend and father of one of his little padawans, Din Djarin, the current ruler of Mandalore. Ever since he helped bail out Grogu, his father, and his father's friends, Luke kept in touch with the Mandalorian. Din was an amazing guy. He was a great father. And he even became one of Luke’s closest friends, though the young Jedi had started to think more and more of the man in armor.

After many nights spent talking on a holocom to each other, a multitude of letters sent back and forth, and a lot of visits to the training grounds, Luke felt that he could say that his feelings for the Mandalorian had only gotten stronger with time.

Luke often liked to think and imagine the different things he would do with the Mandalorian if they were more than just friends. This included long walks, just him and the Mandalorian. Sometimes they’d hold hands. Sometimes they would just sit and talk about anything and everything while watching the stars. Sometimes the Mandalorian would have Luke pressed against a wall, his hands, no gloves, pushing through his hair and that was usually when Luke had to stop thinking of Din, specifically in that manner.

Din, currently, was in the process of telling Luke about his latest project on Mandalore when Leia came to interrupt Luke with quite frankly the worst news he could’ve received.

“Look I don’t think they’ll go for it, but it is a possibility and I just wanted you to know first,” Leia said in a hushed tone. She had taken Luke to a corner of the ballroom, hoping to give him some privacy for the news he had received.

Luke sighed, running his hands through his hair, “I thought it might be a possibility but I never thought it would come down to it.”

Luke, ever known for his emotions, was trying to swallow all the feelings that were bubbling at the surface, scared of what might come up. “I mean, why me Leia?” He was holding eye contact with his sister, “ I’m just some silly kid from Tatooine that got dragged into this mess. There’s nothing special about me,” he averted his eyes to the ground, his insecurities having made their way to the surface.

“Luke, there are so many great things about you,” Leia pulled her brother into her arms, squeezing the crap out of Luke, “I don’t know where you get this idea of this loser kid but you are an amazing fighter with a heart of gold. Anyone would be lucky to have you, your choice or politically speaking,” she mumbled the last bit, trying to push sympathy through the force. Luke put his head on her shoulder, enjoying the hug from his sister.

“Are you alright Luke?” Din had walked to their corner of the room, napkins and a small cup of water in his hand.

Luke released a wet laugh, unaware that he had ever started crying. He pushed away from his sister.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay Din,” He accepted the water from the other man.

Din turned to Leia, “Why is he crying, your highness?”

Leia turned to Din, “I was telling Luke that his name had a high chance of getting placed on a list for potential spouses for one of the ranking members of one of the newer planets that are joining a New Republic allegiance.”

Din turned to look at Luke, helmet piercing through Luke as if he could read his mind (he couldn’t, they tried).

“Would Luke have to agree?”

Leia shrugged, “No. But it would look really bad on our part. While I care for my brother, I also speak for my people and their safety. I don’t want this for Luke, but I can only do so much in my position.”

Luke gulped his water, trying to push his emotions away at least until he was not in the public eye anymore.

“What if he was accounted for already?”

Luke and Leia both looked at the Mandalorian, “Accounted for how?” Leia asked.

Din looked at Luke before reaching up to scratch his neck, “I mean what if Luke was already dating someone or like engaged to be married. Would he still be considered then?”

Luke stared at the visor on Din's helmet, trying to see what was working in that big metal helmet of his.

Leia’s eyes shot to Luke’s and then glanced back at Din, “Well if Luke was publicly accounted for in marriage terms, then I suppose, yes, he would be off the list.”

Luke saw the gears turning in his head, waves of protection rolling of Din, “Din are—“

“Well your Highness, tell your people or whomever it concerns that Luke here is accounted for,” the Mandalorian took a step towards Luke and grabbed Luke’s hand with his own, “My uh—boyfriend will be joining my clan very soon, I guess your people would call this the engagement phase. Luke is very much accounted for,” he squeezed the hand holding Luke’s.

Luke looked at Din, cursing how very not force sensitive the man was, having to resort to whispering instead, “Din, what are you doing?”

 _I think he’s saving you ass Luke, be grateful_ , he heard through Leia force link.

“Well then, congratulations to my dearest brother, and apologizes to you Mand’alor,” Leia opted for a handshake with Din, the one not grabbing Luke’s hand, “I must tell the other politicians of the news,” she pulled Din close and whispered something that Luke couldn’t pick up, still stuck in the fact that Din had called him his boyfriend, he was joining Din’s clan, and had plans to marry Luke. Luke’s heartbeat was running wild.

After Leia had walked off, Luke turned to Din, “What the hell was that?”

Din shrugged.

“Seriously Din, you just lied to my sister-“

“She knows.”

Luke huffed, “Yeah because she can see through bullshit.”

Din let out a huff that Luke recognized as his version of a laugh. The other man brought his hand not holding Luke’s up to hold the side of Luke’s face and Luke leaned into the touch.

Luke hoped his face wasn’t too terribly red.

“Why are you doing this Din?” Luke’s eyes searching Din’s beskar helmet.

“You don’t want to get married to some random politician.”

“Yeah but saying we’re gonna get married, that drags you into a whole new side of things. Come on Din, think about Mandalore, you and your people are already warily of the New Republic. You don’t have to do this.”

Din shook his head, “I don’t care. I’ll deal with the consequences.”

Luke moved away from the other man and crossed his arms, as selfless as Luke could be, he knew somewhere in his head that Din would do the same for him. And being the selfless person that he was expected and tried to be, he would simply not let Din (and Grogu and his people) be dragged into the sad reality of Luke’s life.

“I’m not letting you do this.”

Din looked at him, “I hate to tell you this Jedi, but I think Leia has already told everyone. Looks like we’re stuck with each other.” As if he needed to prove his point, he could see his sister out of the corner of his eye, groups of her coworkers glancing at Luke and Din, some sending happy smiles and thumbs up, while others seemed to be glaring at the Mandalorian.

“Well, she can tell them it's off then. I’m not letting you do this.”

“Why are you so against this Luke? I’m trying to help you out--”

Luke’s eyes narrowed at the slightly taller man, “If your idea of helping me is marrying me out of pity, then forget it. I won’t let you do this.” His eyes lowered, “I don’t want to be married out of pity,” he mumbled under his breath, where Din probably didn’t hear it.

Din locked eyes with the Jedi, not saying a word. Din turned his helmet to look at the crowd of people dancing in the center of the room. During their ‘disagreement’ people had started dancing, that apparently being a thing that happened at these sorts of banquets. He saw Leia dancing with her husband, Han, slowly going in circles, whispering amongst themselves.

Din turned back to Luke who was still avoiding his gaze.

He put his hand out, “Dance with me.”

Luke looked at the hand before him and then at the Mandalorian attached to it. Over time, Luke thought he had gotten pretty good at being able to read Din’s helmet expressions but for once, his ‘face’ seemed oddly blank.

But as mentioned before, Luke is not a very strong man. He had a Mandalorian-shaped hole in his heart. The idea of dancing with the man that he desires, being in such close proximity, Luke couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity.

He grabbed hold of Din’s outstretched hand and proceeded to drag him to the dance floor.

Luke took them off to the outer rim of the dance group, figuring Din still wanted some space from everyone, and placed his hands around Din’s neck. Luke wanted to feel bold. Din brought his hands down to Luke’s waist and gave it a squeeze before pulling Luke to him, chest against beskar.

They danced in silence. Luke looked anywhere but the helmet that was locked in on him. For the most part, he was stuck on the fact that Din apparently knew how to dance. He was also suffering the beating of his heart because of how close Din was to him. But mainly, he was avoiding Din’s gaze, figuring maybe Din would abandon this ~~stupid~~ plan of his.

The orchestra changed the pace of their music, even more, playing a song that was somehow even more slow-paced.

Luke caught a glimpse of his sister, her head resting on Han’s chest. And _dank farrik_ , Luke wanted that. He looked up at Din’s face before laying his head near Din’s neck. In response, Din squeezed Luke’s waist and moved his arms to almost hold Luke, it felt like heaven (or rather a very firm hug which was _basically_ the same thing).

“It’s not out of pity,” Din’s voice was low and raspy, slightly modulated.

“It is awful that you don’t get to pick who you marry,” he hesitated, “You are the most beau—selfless, selfless person I know.”

Luke could feel the tears prickling in his eyes.

“You deserve happiness, Luke.”

The tears were rolling down Luke’s face. Din wasn’t a man of many words, so everything he said meant just that much more to him.

“Besides,” Din paused for a minute. Luke could sense his hesitancy and moved his head a little bit, hoping to reassure the man.

“There are other reasons that I would happily marry you.”

“Din—“

“Luke,” Din cut off Luke’s pleas, “just listen, please,” the last part coming out in a whisper. “There are a lot of reasons why anyone would be lucky to have you as their partner. You are undoubtedly a good person. You take care of people, including my son. You have the kindest heart. More specifically, you respect me. You respect my culture, my boundaries...you make me happy Luke. Getting close to you was never my plan. I was quested with returning Grogu back to his kind in hopes that he would be trained by a Jed. I—uh,” Luke knew how much these words meant as Din was never one to stutter, “I never thought I would see him again. I—uh, I never thought I would see you again.

“Before Grogu, I didn’t have much of an understanding about love. He showed me that even someone like me could be loved. And more importantly, he showed me that even someone like me was capable of loving others,” Din’s arms tightened around Luke, making their sorta hug just that much better, “Grogu means more to me than anyone will ever know.”

Din slightly pushed Luke back, arms loosening around the shorter man so Din could look at Luke’s face. Luke had tears streaming down his face. The more Din talked, the more they ran, not that Din had any room to talk (his eyes might have been watering under his helmet).

“But somehow,” Din moved his hand up to cup Luke’s face, thumb swiping away at his tears, “you managed to worm your way into that spot as well.”

_lovelovelovewarmthcomfortlovelovelove_

Luke was hit with waves of emotions that were rolling off of Din. He could feel the man letting his guard down. He could feel Din letting his emotions come pouring out, every emotion imaginable, all open for Luke.

If his not so subtle way of telling Luke about his feelings didn’t work, Din at the very least hoped that Luke would understand his emotions through the force, even with Din being as force-sensitive as a rock. He found that opening himself up was something that Force users like his son and Luke tended to appreciate.  
The two men stared at each other, neither attempting to dance anymore. Just the Jedi and the Mandalorian holding each other in a small embrace, unintentionally swaying to the music.

Luke was thankfully hidden by the taller man holding him, to everyone else. To everyone else, it probably seemed like the happy, newlywed couple was enjoying each other's company, not two men having the equivalent of a heart to heart or one-man confessing his feelings and the other one crying.

“You don’t believe me.”

Luke averted his eyes, “It’s not that Din, its—“

“Luke,” the shorter man looked up at him, “What do I need to do to convince you?” Din's voice was soft, laced with comfort.

Din would do anything that Luke asked of him, but he had felt like that for a while. “Is it because of the attachment thing? The old Jedi Order? Or...is it me? I mean,” Din hesitated, “do you not feel—“

“Tell me,” Luke whispered. He met Din’s eye line, “Tell me you love me.”

Din stilled.

He looked at the Jedi in his arms. Big blue eyes staring into him, hope shining through the tears. Din smiled under the helmet.

“Luke Skywalker, I love you.”

Din gently placed his forehead (forehelmet) against Luke’s forehead, he whispered in a low, raspy voice, “I love you. I love you. I love you—“

Luke’s arms shot up around Din’s neck, pulling the man impossibly closer, “Tell me again.”

“I love you.”

Luke let out half sob/half laugh noise, “I love you too.”

Luke suddenly felt bad for his sister, because Luke’s emotions _finally_ busted out, demanding to be felt. He loved the man in his arms so much. Luke was terrified of what that meant, yet he was also excited about what that meant. But most importantly, the man that Luke most thought about and was completely in love with since he first saw him holding his son, That Man, was in love with Luke. The silly farm boy from Tatooine. The last Jedi Knight. Din Djarin was in love with Luke Skywalker. Luke could cry from happiness if he wasn’t already crying.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Din posed the question, helmet never straying from Luke’s face, “I’m kind of over this banquet thing,” one hand was raised from Luke to come up and rub Din’s neck, “I really only came for you.”

Luke snorted. “You're telling me, you came to this banquet with the pure intent of just seeing me?” The Mandalorian nodded. “Din, you can see me anytime you want.”

He probably looked like a mess, face red, tears tracking down his face, but he honestly couldn’t care less.

Din shrugged, “And miss the fancy black boots? Never.”

Luke shoved Din with his elbow, “Who knew you were such a charmer.”

Din wrapped his arm around Luke’s shoulders and began to walk them out, “I’m no charmer. You just blush at anything.”

Luke was ready to retaliate when he heard Leia through his force link, _Since you're not even gonna say bye, I'll say it for you. Goodbye. Have fun with your fiancé._

Luke looked back to see his sister, Leia raising a glass towards him and Din, he offered a small wave back and allowed himself to be pulled away by Din.

He didn’t know where they stood or what the last few minutes and confessions meant. All Luke knew was that he loved Din and surprisingly, Din loved him back. And that’s all that mattered to Luke at least. They could figure the rest out at another time.

**Author's Note:**

> luke: what did leia say??  
> din: oh, she said “please confess already, luke is in love with you”  
> luke: WHAT??!?  
> din: just kidding


End file.
